


Ignis, Aer, Aqua, Terra

by Adohug



Series: Dance With Us 2020 [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: :), AtLA AU, Dance With Us 2020, F/F, F/M, Multi, avatar AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27975861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adohug/pseuds/Adohug
Summary: She recalls her father’s last words to her as the sailors go along their business.“If you wish to be my daughter again, return with the Avatar.”Should be no problem, except that the Avatar went missing generations ago.Or: this will be an actual fic one day I swear I just needed to get this out thereOr or: the prom avatar au :)
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan, Emma Nolan & Emma Nolan's Grandmother (The Prom Musical), Kaylee/Nick (The Prom Musical), Kevin/Shelby (The Prom Musical)
Series: Dance With Us 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040061
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15
Collections: Dance With Us Week 2020





	Ignis, Aer, Aqua, Terra

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in a doc for months now. The prom discord saw the first rendition of this au when someone suggested it and i wrote literally ten pages on the idea so i Do Not Know how long this will eventually be
> 
> This is for Day 6: AU Day - revive an old au or come up with a new one!

The royal dock is busier than usual. The normal supplies are being offloaded and crews are heading off to town in droves for their shore leave as usual, but sailors part the crowds with their royal navy uniforms and large supply crates, all moving towards one ship as Emma watches.

She recalls her father’s last words to her as the sailors go along their business.

_“If you wish to be my daughter again, return with the Avatar.”_

Should be no problem, except that the Avatar went missing generations ago.

A figure at her side stirs her from her thoughts. “Are you ready for this?”

Emma smiles at Betsy, eyes sad. “I was basically banished from my home and given an impossible task, Gran. How can I be ready?”

“You’re right, it’s a stupid question,” her grandmother replies, turning back to the dock at large. “Why don’t you get off the boat and take one last walk on the grounds? It will be a while until we are ready to sail, and you need to clear your head.”

She shifts her weight, unwilling to leave the boat. 

“Go,” Betsy insists. “I will watch them.”

As any child knows, it is hard to disobey your grandparents if you respect them, so Emma disembarks and makes her way back to solid ground. Not to the palace gardens, where she might run into her father, or to the back streets of whichever suburb surrounds the palace where a guard might recognize her. Instead, Emma goes to the area that she often escaped to when stuck in the palace: a rocky portion of the beach just under a small cliff, out of sight of the docks and unheard of by the citizens. There were caves set into the cliff that she often wandered into when she needed a moment free from her royal duties. She goes there now, as both one last moment of peace before leaving home and for one last look around this space.

She did _not_ expect to be ambushed at the cave entrance.

She was moving before her brain really registered the hand on her shoulder; in less time than it took to blink, she had jumped across the cave and turned to face her opponent, falling into a defensive stance. She began the process of controlling her breathing, feeling the beginnings of a flame ready to form--

Only to feel her breath catch in her throat at the sight of the girl in front of her.

She seems about Emma’s age, with curly brown hair half up in a traditional topknot. Her hands are out in a nonthreatening pose, which leaves the cloak she’s wearing to open up a little at her elbows and reveal the red of Fire Nation clothes to peek through. Normally Emma wouldn’t notice these things, but other than the clothes and hair she doesn’t look _anything_ like a member of the Fire Nation. Her face was too round, her skin was too dark, and her eyes…

They shine bright blue, like the ocean. Emma finds herself stuck in them, eyes filled with fear, desperation, shock.

It’s only after the two stare at each other for a long moment that the silence between them breaks.

“Please,” the strange girl pleads, “I need your help.”

``````````````````````````````````````

Emma re-appears at the royal docks half an hour after she leaves with a cloaked figure following her. Without a glance at the sailors around her she boards a ship -- _her_ ship, for the foreseeable future -- with said figure. Betsy raises her eyebrows with an unspoken question, but Emma simply leads the figure belowdecks without a word.

They reach a room and Emma closes the door carefully, finally relaxing. “I’m going to have to explain you to my grandmother eventually, but you’ll be safe here.”

The girl from the cave takes off her cloak and the pack she hid underneath it and lay her belongings on a bunk. “What will your sailors say?”

“It’s a skeleton crew on this ship; Father didn’t want to waste soldiers on my little errand.” Emma fails to conceal the bitterness in her voice. “I don’t blame him; my brother was always the favorite.”

The girl pauses. “I… see.” 

“Enough about me. Do you have a name?” 

“Alyssa.”

“Alyssa…” Emma tests the name on her tongue. It sounds foreign. “You’re not from here, are you?”

Alyssa’s eyes harden. “Why do you ask?”

Emma feels herself imitating Alyssa in defense. “You didn’t recognize me.”

“You’re obviously the daughter of someone well-connected to the Fire Nation Navy, to get a ship for this “errand” of yours.” She folds her arms as her voice bites out of her slim frame.

“You’re right, but also very, very wrong.” Emma turns to leave, throwing one last remark over her shoulder. “You’ve been talking to the daughter of the Fire Lord.”

``````````````````````````````````````

In the Royal Palace a figure stands in a window, watching a ship pull away from the Royal Docks and out to sea. Behind him the door opens for a servant. “Pardon me, Prince, but your father has requested your presence in the war room.”

Taking one last look at the ship that holds his sister, he turns. “I’ll be right there.”

``````````````````````````````````````

A boy glides down into the Western Air Temple, stopping by a six-legged bison. “Shields! I found some more scrolls!!” 

The bison looks up at the boy in yellow and orange and makes a grunting noise. 

“Oh, yeah, it’s food time. Guess the scrolls can wait until later!”

``````````````````````````````````````

Below the deck of the ship, Alyssa opens her pack and pulls out a piece of blue cloth. She touches it gently, almost relishing its personal meaning, before sighing and looking around the room she is staying in. 

What has she gotten herself into?

``````````````````````````````````````

On Kyoshi Island a group of girls in matching makeup and armor practice their fighting stances. One of them in the back feels a pebble nudging her foot and in a brief pause between motions she kicks it away. As the girls begin the next set, a thought passes through her mind. _I gotta learn how to control this…_

``````````````````````````````````````

Emma stands at the bow of the ship, lost in thought. She has just seen the last of her home for what might be the rest of her life, and she can’t say that she is upset over the fact. Her father always preferred her brother and she wasn’t the Crown Princess. The Sun Warriors were nice enough, but she has no other friends. The only person she’s leaving behind who she cares about is her brother, and he has his princely duties to keep him busy. Besides… 

“We need to find you teachers.” Emma startles, losing her train of thoughts at the appearance of Betsy at her side.

She sighs. “I know, Grandmother.”

“Hey,” Betsy warns, “Do not be dismissive of this. You’ve been given a chance to leave home and find yourself.”

Emma sighs. “You mean find the _Avatar_.”

Because that’s what she has to do. Go out and capture someone who has been reported dead for a hundred years, just to bring them back to Father and maybe, _maybe_ regain his recognition.

Betsy smiles up at Emma. “Well, I think that since _you_ are the Avatar, that we’re both correct.”

**Author's Note:**

> do Not expect me to add a new chapter anytime soon this is not my priority my kelvin soulmate au is priority
> 
> I actually wanted to post the second half of that fic for today but as the time drew near I realized it wouldn't be done, so I made this lil teaser for what is to come :)


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